Toughie No 380 by Osmosis
Not so Glum
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is my second Osmosis puzzle this month and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. There’s less of the very complicated wordplay that we’ve had from Osmosis in the past (in particular, not as many reversals), but there are some delightfully quirky clues. There are also lots of references to people and places, but I think that they’re all reasonably well-known, except possibly for the footballer who may not be known to younger solvers.
As always we’d love to get your views, so please leave a comment.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26280
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
We have one of Jay’s easier offerings today. At one point I thought I might enter all the answers in clue order, but that came unstuck on the bottom half where I needed a few checking letters to get some of the longer answers.
Toughie No 379 by Warbler
I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
Warbler turns into Tweetie Pie today. It was especially easy for anyone who read by inadvertent tip about American railways last Saturday!
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26279
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***- Enjoyment ***
We have a pleasant workout from Shamus today, with several homophones and a visual clue. Let us know what you thought of it in a comment, and please remember to vote to indicate how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
For new readers wondering where the answers are, they’re concealed between the brackets under the clues. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal one.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26278
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***- Enjoyment ***
Another very entertaining crossword fom Rufus today, just the thing to get the crossword week rolling. I made this much harder than it should have been by misspelling 4d, and for some strange reason I also put SATE in at 26a. Just as an afterthought, will the F.A. be flying the England football team home in economy class?
NTSPP – 020 Review A Puzzle by Anax + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + I thought that this one was a real treat from Anax and would have fitted well into an end-of-week Toughie slot. As he warned there are a number [...]
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2542 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 020
A Puzzle by Anax
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Welcome to the twentieth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week Anax has provided a difficult puzzle with a hidden theme.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26277 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 1st July.
Toughie No 378 by Myops
Ouch!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment ***
I feel a bit guilty as I’m writing this in a desperate rush; busy day. Blimey, I found this tough – a clutch of obscure answers saw me delving into Chambers and several wordplays had me clutching at irrelevant straws.
It was enjoyable though. Were it not for the obscurities and a few small quibbles I’d have given this more stars, but there are some beautiful clues in here.
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2541
Blow-by-blow solving accounts from two contributors
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment *****
For clarity, it’s Peter writing this introduction. For a change this week, we’re trying to show you the solving process in action rather than an explanation of the clues written after the event. Two of us solved this puzzle while making notes about our thoughts, so that you can see two approaches to solving and the differences and similarities between our thought processes. If you’re reading this to learn something, Gnomethang’s solving experience will be more familiar, and mine may seem absurdly unlikely.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26276
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
We have a typical Giovanni today (but with the usual sprinkling of religious references). Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
As always the answers are hidden between the brackets under the clues. Just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal one.
Toughie No 377 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
It was a pleasant, non-controversial puzzle with some nice clues for me to blog this week. There was nothing really obscure in it and for once I had no problems working out the wordplay.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26271
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Reading the first few clues, I had to check whether I had the right day of the week, as it seemed to me that the puzzle was slightly harder than previous Saturday offerings. Once I got into it, however, and 1a’d to the compiler’s cunning plan, it turned out to be a relatively quick solve with some splendid clues, 17a, 27a, 2d being just some of my favourites.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26275
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
I have nearly worn out the blue highlighter today – there were so many excellent clues in this puzzle. Once again we don’t know the name of the setter, but we have never had a puzzle as good as this one on a Thursday since Jay relinquished the slot at the start of the year.
The clue at 8 down is one of the best I have seen in a long time. I hope the setter owns up to this one.
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